Fishing Q&A - What bait casting fishing reel to use (Round or Low Profile) for Inshore Pier Fishing.?

What bait casting fishing reel to use (Round or Low Profile) for Inshore Pier Fishing.?

Hi, I'm planing to buy a new Bait-casting reel but I'm not sure what to buy Round or Low Profile. I'm planing to use this for Inshore Pier fresh water fishing or maybe on a fishing boat for Salmon fishing too. I want something I can put my rod in a rod holder that is attached to the Piers or boat railings. I saw couple of Anglers in our area 'Pier' and they are using Rounded ones. If I'm going to get a Rounded ones can use this also for offshore fishing too? I just want to make my money's worth by buying just one good reel that can do both. What reel would recommend base on your choice above whether Round or Low Profile if you have a budget of $200. I heard a lot of good things for Low Profile reels but I'm not sure if it can handle Big Salmons. Thanks galit_sa_chat

Public Comments

If I were you I'd go round. Why? You can purchase a VERY nice round-style BC that will hold up under the pressures of offshore/lake trolling & inshore fishing "cheaper" than purchasing a low-profile reel. (Plus, in my opinion, the rounds don't flex as much as the low-profiles AND hold more line.) The 3 best reels you could get, (within your price range) would be: #1. Shimano Calcutta B (The BEST. period)-$189 #2. Penn International 965, (Yep! Penn makes a VERY nice casting reel in the size you need!)-$239 #3. Abu Garcia 6500-C3. (An inexpensive, "classic", workhorse reel. You could buy 2 for the price of 1 Calcutta or high end reel.)-$89 BUT, if you plan on actually "casting" more than trolling you may want to take a look at these: 1. Abu Garcia Revo Inshore casting- ($229) 2. Shimano Curado-( Currently on sale at Cabelas for $200) 3.Pflueger Patriarch-($200) (Personally, I would not get a low-profile even if I were mostly casting. Salmon get BIG. Although the new breed of low-profiles are excellent, I'd be concerned about flexing after the 50th 25 +LB Salmon!) Hope this helps ya? Good fishing.
I have both a Round one and a Low Profile one, and let me tell you...if you want something that is going to handle the Big salmons, get the Round one. The Low Profile is a good reel, and easier to control backlashes if you don't have a lot of experience with them, but they really can't handle the GREAT BIG fish as well as the Round ones. Plus, the Round ones tend to be able to hold a LOT more line (anywhere from 50-150yds more, depending on the line), which is something you are going to need for offshore fishing and big fish. I love both of my styles, but I tend to stear toward my Round one more often than not. You can easily get a good one within $200 too. I got an Abu Garcia 6000 for $65, it's not top of the line, but it works for me. You'll of course, want something better since you do offshore fishing, but the point is, it can be done. I wish I could recommend one, but all I know is Abu Garcia and Pennacle, of the two, I think Abu Garcia is better. I know there are a lot better brands out there as well though. I hope this has helped some. Tight lines!!
1) Abu Garcia 6500. This is my first choice because it is inexpensive and it got a bite alarm. (The bite alarm isn't very loud though) I've used it in both freshwater and saltwater. It is powerful enough to land bigger fish like lingcod, striper and salmon. 2) Daiwa Millionaire. This reel got an incredibly strong drag for a small reel (for saltwater that is). The drag is strong enough to land 20-30lb tuna with relative ease. This reel plus braid lines will give you a lot of power in a small package. 3) Shimano Calcutta. Drag is very smooth on this reel. There's very little hesitation in the drag's initial pick-up. This advantage won't be very significant until you picked up a monster. The power surge from a very big fish could snap your line if your drag didn't pick up immediately during the initial pick-up. All 3 reels are well built and they could handle pretty sizable fish in both fresh and saltwater.
First, yes low profile reels can handle salmon just fine. It just matters if you have a better quality baitcaster. Lower end ones are going to flex under the tension from the pressure of the fish. Also, lower end reels tend to have lower quality drags that aren't going to hold up. For pier fishing, it's almost always going to be more beneficial to have a round baitcaster as opposed to a low profile. The reason for this is because rounds tend to have more line capacity and bait clickers. Bait clickers (line alarms) are nice to have when pier fishing because it will let you focus attention on other things while fishing as opposed to having to literally constantly watch your rod. I've know people who have lost rods over the side of a pier because they got a take down from a large fish. It's not pretty...it downright sucks! For salmon fishing from a boat, a round is generally preferred as well. The thing with boat fishing for salmon, especially in the ocean, is going to be the necessity for line capacity. In a river, there's not too far a salmon can run, but oceans are a little different. The abu garcia ambassadeur series are good all around reels at a very affordable price. Most of their reels in the 5000 and 6000 series have bait clickers and they will hold enough line for most applications.. If you're looking for a low profile reel in the sub $200 range, then I would take a look at the Shimano Curado 300. They are a higher capacity low profile reel that has enough performance qualities that will handle just about whatever you can toss at it. They retailed for 249, but are on sale for 199 at most places. I wouldn't recommend getting the Curado E (the newly released green curado). They aren't proven and are rumored to not be as good as the curado D (grey in color), Other than that, there's the Abu Garcia Revo INSHORE, a higher capacity higher end reel. It has good reviews. Good luck....